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Balista
Balista or Ballista (died ), also known in the sources with the name of "Callistus", was one of the Thirty Tyrants of the controversial ''Historia Augusta'', and supported the rebellion of the Macriani against Emperor Gallienus. History Balista was the praetorian prefect under Valerian. After the Sasanian Empire defeated and captured that emperor in the Battle of Edessa. Balista, along with Macrianus, harassed the Sasanian army, even capturing Shapur's treasure and harem. Joined, in some accounts, by Odaenathus, the ''Lord of Palmyra'', they routed the Sasanian army that was returning from the ravaging of Cilicia. Then Macrianus proclaimed his sons, Macrianus Minor and Quietus, as emperors.D.S.Potter (2004), p.256 He stayed with Quietus in the East, while Macrianus and his elder son moved with the army against the West. In the Balkans, Macrianus were routed by the commander of Roman cavalry, Aureolus, a general loyal to Gallienus, and killed. Then, according to some accoun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odaenathus
Septimius Odaenathus (Greek language, Greek: Ὀδαίναθος, Palmyrene Aramaic: 𐡠𐡣𐡩𐡮𐡶 (file:Dynt.png, 35px), ; ; 220 – 267) was the founder king (malik) of the List of Palmyrene monarchs, Palmyrene Kingdom who ruled from Palmyra, Syria. He elevated the status of his kingdom from a regional center subordinate to Rome into a formidable state in South-West Asia. Odaenathus was born into an aristocratic Palmyrene family that had received Roman citizenship in the 190s under the Severan dynasty. He was the son of Hairan, the descendant of Nasor. The circumstances surrounding his rise are ambiguous; he became the lord (''ras'') of the city, a position created for him, as early as the 240s and by 258, he was styled a ''consularis'', indicating a high status in the Roman Empire. The defeat and captivity of Valerian (emperor), Emperor Valerian at the hands of the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian emperor Shapur I in 260 left the eastern Roman provinces largely at the mer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallienus
Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He won numerous military victories against usurpers and Germanic tribes, but was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. His 15-year reign was the longest in half a century. Born into a wealthy and traditional senatorial family, Gallienus was the son of Valerian and Mariniana. Valerian became Emperor in September 253 and had the Roman Senate elevate Gallienus to the rank of ''Augustus''. Valerian divided the empire between him and his son, with Valerian ruling the east and his son the west. Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus in 258 and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum in 259. The defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa in 260 by the Sasanian Empire threw the Roman Empire into the chaos of civil war. Contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallienus Usurpers
The Gallienus usurpers were the usurpers who claimed imperial power during the reign of Gallienus (253–268, the first part of which he shared with his father Valerian). The existence of usurpers during the Crisis of the Third Century was very common, and the high number of usurpers fought by Gallienus is due to his long rule; fifteen years being considered long by the standards of the 3rd century Roman Empire. Uprisings after the defeat of Valerian After Valerian's defeat and capture by the Persians in 260, his son Gallienus became the only emperor. However, many uprisings happened, both in the East, with the formation of the Palmyrene Empire, and in the West, with the birth of the Gallic Empire. With the uncertainty of the period, the legions wanted to restore Roman power in the wake of Valerian's defeat, against the pressure of the barbarian people in the west and the Persians in the East. Usurpers in the West * 260: Ingenuus – Chosen by the population and the army of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quietus
Titus Fulvius Junius Quietus (died 261) was a Roman usurper against Roman Emperor Gallienus. History Quietus was the son of Fulvius Macrianus and a noblewoman, possibly named Junia. According to ''Historia Augusta'', he was a military tribune under Valerian, but this information is challenged by historians. He gained the imperial office with his brother Macrianus Minor, after the capture of Emperor Valerian in the Sassanid campaign of 260. With the lawful heir, Gallienus, being far away in the West, the soldiers elected the two emperors. The support of his father, controller of the imperial treasure, and the influence of Balista, Praetorian prefect of the late Emperor Valerian, proved instrumental in his promotion. Quietus and Macrianus, elected consuls, had to face the Emperor Gallienus, at the time in the West. Quietus and Balista stayed in the eastern provinces, while his brother and father marched their army to Europe to seize control of the Roman Empire. After th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirty Tyrants (Roman)
The Thirty Tyrants (Latin: ''Tyranni Triginta'') were a series of thirty rulers who appear in the ''Historia Augusta'', as having ostensibly been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Gallienus. Given the notorious unreliability of the ''Historia Augusta'', the veracity of this list is debatable. There is a scholarly consensus that the author deliberately inflated the number of pretenders in order to parallel the Thirty Tyrants of Athens. The ''Historia'' actually gives 32 names. The author, who wrote under the name of Trebellius Pollio, places the last two during the reigns of Maximinus Thrax and Claudius II respectively, leaving thirty alleged pretenders during the reign of Gallienus. The following list gives the Thirty Tyrants as depicted by the ''Historia Augusta'', along with notes contrasting the Historia Augusta's claims with their actual historical positions: Table Notwithstanding the author's pretensions regarding the time du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Sidebottom
Harry Sidebottom is a British author and historian, best known for his two series of historical novels the ''Warrior of Rome'', and ''Throne of the Caesars''. He is Quondam Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, St. Benet's Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, and lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford, Lincoln College. Early life Sidebottom was born in Cambridge and brought up in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, where his father worked as a racehorse trainer. He attended Fairstead House School, Newmarket, and The King's School, Ely, King's Ely. Sidebottom read Ancient History for his first degree, at Lancaster University (1977–1980). He was awarded an MPhil in 1982 from the University of Manchester and later a DPhil from the University of Oxford. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, where he is a member of the senior common room. He has written for The Times, Times Literary Supplement, Financial Times, The Telegr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrianus Minor
Titus Fulvius Iunius Macrianus (died 261), also known as Macrianus Minor, was a Roman usurper. He was the son of Fulvius Macrianus, also known as Macrianus Major.Jones, pg. 528 Career Although his father was from an equestrian family, Macrianus Minor's mother was of noble birth and her name, possibly, was Iunia. According to the often unreliable Historia Augusta, he had served as military tribune under Valerian. Macrianus, his father and his brother Quietus, were in Mesopotamia in 260, for the Sassanid campaign of Emperor Valerian, when the Roman army was defeated, and the emperor was captured.Körner, http://www.roman-emperors.org/galusurp.htm#Note%202 With help from his father, who kept the imperial treasure, and by the influence of Balista, Valerian's praefect, Macrianus gained the imperial office together with his brother Quietus, through the election by the army, in contrast with the lawful Emperor Gallienus, son and co-emperor with Valerian, who was far in the West. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Edessa
The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Valerian (emperor), Valerian and the Sasanian Empire under Shapur I, in Edessa, Mesopotamia, Edessa (now the Turkish city of Urfa) in 260. The Roman army was defeated and captured in its entirety by the Sasanian forces; for the first time, a Roman emperor was taken prisoner. Background and prelude Prior to the battle, Shapur I had penetrated several times deeply into Roman territory, conquering and plundering Antioch in Syria (Roman province), Syria in 253 or 256. After defeating the usurper Aemilianus and assuming imperial power for himself, Valerian arrived in the eastern provinces as soon as he could (254 or 255) and gradually restored order. Soon he had to confront a naval Gothic invasion in northern Asia Minor. The Goths ravaged Pontus and moved south into Cappadocia. An attempt by Valerian and his army in Antiocheia to intercept them failed because of the Plague of Cyprian, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cilicia
Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region includes the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay. Name The name of Cilicia () was derived from (), which was the name used by the Neo-Assyrian Empire to designate the western part of what would become Cilicia. The English spelling is the same as the Latin, as it was transliterated directly from the Greek form Κιλικία. The palatalization of c occurring in Western Europe in later Vulgar Latin () accounts for its modern pronunciation in English. Geography Cilicia extends along the Mediterranean coast east from Pamphylia to the Nur Mountains, which separate it from Syria. North and east of Cilicia stand the rugged Taurus Mountains, which separate it from the high central plateau of Anatolia, and which are pierced by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the similar work of Suetonius, ''The Twelve Caesars'', it presents itself as a compilation of works by six different authors, collectively known as the ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae'', written during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I and addressed to those emperors or other important personages in Ancient Rome. The collection, as extant, comprises thirty biographies, most of which contain the life of a single emperor, but some include a group of two or more, grouped together merely because these emperors were either similar or contemporaneous. The true authorship of the work, its actual date, its reliability and its purpose have long been matters for controversy by historians and scholars ever since Hermann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
